The European Space Agency ESA and OHB-System AG, a subsidiary of the European space travel and technology group OHB Technology AG (Prime Standard, ISIN: DE0005936124), have today signed a contract for the construction and testing of the satellite platform LUXOR for the first SMALL GEO Mission. The contract has a volume of around EUR 115 million.

The first German-made satellite-based radar reconnaissance system, SAR-Lupe, successfully passed final acceptance by the German Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB). The five satellites are now operational and are delivering high-resolution images. The German Armed Forces have been using the partially operational system since December 2007.

OHB System has received the "Löhnpreis" award from Steinbeis-Stiftung. The award, which includes prize money of EUR 20,000, is being shared between OHB and the team led by mathematics professor Christoph Büskens of the University of Bremen.

OHB-System AG, a subsidiary of the European aerospace group OHB Technology AG (Prime Standard, ISIN: DE0005936124) won the selection as one of two candidates in a tender for the construction of 28 satellites for the European Galileo navigation system by the European Space Agency ESA. The OHB team thus won the first important round of the elimination process, beating three other contenders.

OHB-System, a subsidiary of OHB Technology AG (Prime Standard, ISIN: DE0005936124), has been awarded a contract by Astrium France for the provision of support in the construction and testing of the CPHD (Centré Principale Helios von Deutschland) ground station in Gelsdorf near Bonn. The first phase of the contract runs until the end of 2009 and entails a volume of EUR 2.1 million. It will be followed by a second phase from 2010 to 2012 with a volume of a further EUR 6 million or so.

OHB-System AG, a subsidiary of the European space technology group OHB Technology AG, has been awarded a contract by the Science Directorate of the European Space Agency ESA for the execution of an assessment study for the “Marco Polo” asteroid mission. In this way, OHB has managed to secure a role as a main contractor in the ESA research program. The study will be commencing on today’s date and extend for a period of one year.

The fifth German SAR-Lupe reconnaissance satellite was successfully launched this morning from the Russian space center Plesetsk south of Archangelsk. The Russian Cosmos 3M launch vehicle lifted off on schedule at 4:40:09 hours CEST, releasing the radar satellite into its low-altitude orbit at a distance of around 500 km above the earth’s surface roughly half an hour later.

Six new communications satellites have been successfully launched on board a Cosmos 3M carrier, which lifted off from Kasputin Yar in Russia today at 08:36:38 CET. They are to be used to augment and modernize the communications network operated by US satellite operator ORBCOMM Inc., which currently comprises 29 satellites.

The OHB Group’s (ISIN: DE0005936124, Prime Standard) total revenues in the first three months of 2008 came to EUR 51.7 million, well up on the year-ago figure of EUR 40.5 million. This was primarily due to the first-time consolidation of Kayser-Threde GmbH on July 1, 2007 (share in total revenues attributable to Kayser-Threde in the first quarter of 2008: EUR 9.2 million) as well as Luxspace Sàrl as of the first quarter of 2008 (EUR 0.750 million).

This morning at 05.53 CET, an Indian PSLV rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, 80 km North of Chennai, successfully releasing a total of ten multinational payloads into space. On board was RUBIN-8, a technology payload which Bremen-based space technology company OHB-System AG has developed and been using since 2000 for various orbital experiments.

After a rendezvous and docking maneuver lasting just under three hours, the first European Automatic Transfer Vehicle ATV today reached its destination. At 16.45 hours CEST, the “Jules Verne”, as the ATV is called, docked onto the Russian Swesda module of the International Space Station ISS.

SPD1 party chairman Kurt Beck visited Bremen and Bremerhaven on March 28. Accompanied by city mayor Jens Böhrnsen and Bremen’s state SPD chairman Uwe Beckmeyer, Kurt Beck took a guided tour of space technology company OHB’s facilities in the afternoon.

The fourth German SAR-Lupe reconnaissance satellite was launched at 18:15 hours from the Russian space center Plesetsk south of Archangelsk. The Cosmos 3M launch vehicle which was carrying the radar satellite released it into its intended orbit around half an hour later.

Known as Jules Verne, it is the first Automatic Transfer Vehicle ATV and will be used to supply the International Space Station ISS. At around 5 AM CET on Sunday morning, it will start on its trajectory to the ISS on board an Ariane 5 launcher. It will be docking with the station in around a month’s time.

Thale cress has been growing on board the COLUMBUS module of the International Space Station ISS since this morning, marking the commencement of the first biological experiment on board the COLUMBUS. The first results are to be available in two weeks’ time. Funded by the German Aerospace Center DLR and known as WAICO, this experiment aims to explore the effects of weightlessness on root growth compared with gravity conditions on the earth’s surface.

At the Bremen-based space technology company OHB, all eyes were glued to the screens last night when Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 09.45 pm CET on its flight to the ISS International Space Station. On board the Shuttle is the European research laboratory COLUMBUS, which will be docking with the ISS in three days’ time.

With earnings of probably more than 80 cents per share in the past fiscal year 2007, OHB Technology AG (Prime Standard, ISIN: DE0005936124) exceeds the profit forecast of November 2007 (78 cents per share).